[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by sdbob

I can tell you from the factory after I broke mine in full throttle upshift into 3rd,Drive was very very firm!!!!! I can still feel it. I had installed different m40 shift kits other cars but the SD was the best. Maybe the torque of the 455. Glad for you that work is progressing. Enjoy those memories.

As a "Pontiac Guy", since my early teens, I followed everything new coming from Detroit like many on here. I was 14 years old when the 73 SD-455 was all the rage in the auto press and they were just coming out. My mother actually test drove a 73 SD at Moorman Pontiac, my local dealer. I pushed as hard as I could for her to buy it. My dad was not a "car guy" at all. He never owned a decent car in his entire lifetime that I can remember. My mother loved sporty cars and owned a number of them. The SD-455 she drove was red like the one I am putting together. It was VERY expensive and did not have AC. That was a show stopper for my dad. She ended up with a new 1973 Mustang, YUK! It was loaded with options and AC and cost over $1500.00 less than the TA. That was allot of $$ in those days. That was as close as I ever got to having an SD-455 in the family.

So yes, putting this car back together is really special and rewarding for me!

[mgarblik]

Here are some pics from the underneath of assembly progress. I wasn't able to log in for 3-4 days due to site problems. The exhaust system is the last major assembly to go in from underneath the car. Have been working on some small items from the topside as well. Pretty happy with the results. As you can see from underneath, this car has never been off the frame and the entire underneath had been coated with a mixture of hard and gummy undercoating from the dealer. It was a horrible mess. I removed as much as I could with a combination of dry ice blasting and solvent and dozens of hours. Just had to draw the line somewhere.

[mgarblik]

Would not let me add pics. Will try again!

[mgarblik]

Sorry for the quality and presentation of these pics. This site is extremely glitchy and making posting pics extremely difficult the last week or so. I will try 1 more group.

[johnta1]

Do you have the fuel hose holder/clamp that goes under the timing cover?

[PAUL K]

Looks great!

[HWYSTR455]

Sweet! Lookin' great!

I used those hose clamps before, and with new hose I found heating them with a heat gun for a little to relax the hose helped them from leaking initially. Thought you might be interested.

I used the OE repop 'ring' clamps on the 442, and those too needed some heat to relax. Some wouldn't provide enough tension, and had to try several to get them to work sometimes. Luckily I bought bags of them!


.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Do you have the fuel hose holder/clamp that goes under the timing cover?

I do actually have that clamp. It may have been missing in the pics. I had it on and off a few times getting the trans cooler lines on and some other little stuff.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Sweet! Lookin' great!

I used those hose clamps before, and with new hose I found heating them with a heat gun for a little to relax the hose helped them from leaking initially. Thought you might be interested.

I used the OE repop 'ring' clamps on the 442, and those too needed some heat to relax. Some wouldn't provide enough tension, and had to try several to get them to work sometimes. Luckily I bought bags of them!


.

I will do the first few heat cycles on water only in the cooling system. Coolant makes such a mess if there is a leak. I will try heating the hoses if needed. They felt tight but don't use tower clamps very often. I have the wire ring clamps on my 62 Catalina. They fit super tight and didn't leak.

[HWYSTR455]

I think the tower ones work fine, may have to tighten them after a few heat cycles, but I was thinking about those green and yellow ones on the fuel line/pump.


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[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I think the tower ones work fine, may have to tighten them after a few heat cycles, but I was thinking about those green and yellow ones on the fuel line/pump.


.

OK, I got ya. Those colored squeeze clamps don't fit super tight for sure. This car is full of them too. Probably over 20 of them all over the place. Especially around the fuel tank. So many short pieces, with that crazy standpipe assembly near the back seat. The good news is out of all those lines, only one carries any fuel under pressure and it's low.

[mgarblik]

Productive weekend. Getting close to starting this car up and putting it back on the road. What's left? Installing all the fluids, priming the oil pump, distributor and wiring. Installing the exhaust system. Doing some electrical checkouts. Installing the drivers seat. Everyone like pics so I will post 10 from this weekend. Couple of interesting detail items: The SD valve cover decal is from Vedoro 68. It is a premium, fantastic high quality reproduction. Thank you very much. The emission sticker is a genuine GM SD sticker purchased in 1978. Pretty cool. The muffler is GM also, purchased about the same time. Special thanks to Steve M who not only has an original 74 low mileage SD but spent hours painting the engine, installing the headliner, air brushing little snags, and using his car as a template for many, many detail items.

[mgarblik]

More pics, mostly underneath.

[Mike Davis]

Very nice on details.
Will you have this at Norwalk this year?

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Mike Davis

Very nice on details.
Will you have this at Norwalk this year?

I hope so. I need to get it running and driven around locally to make sure everything is OK. It's about a 500 mile round trip. Not that that's a big deal, but don't want any trouble on the way. Having a really hard time getting tires for it. Radial TA tires the correct size are back ordered deep into the summer, probably August now. The June 12, date you see on many web sites like Tire Rack is a fantasy apparently. Probably going to order Mickey Thompson tires for it. They are at least available. The tires on the car are from 1979. Amazingly, they all hold air just fine. If things just go to hell, the TA Nationals are right here in my back yard. I also want Arnie Beswick to see it. Norwalk is his big event for the year.

[Verdoro 68]

The car is looking great! Nice to see it coming together.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

...Having a really hard time getting tires for it. Radial TA tires the correct size are back ordered deep into the summer, probably August now... Probably going to order Mickey Thompson tires for it. They are at least available...

That is a blessing - BFG's are so overated.

[SRR]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

That is a blessing - BFG's are so overated.

I was going to put a set on my 70 Skylark until I saw the ridiculous price!

[sdbob]

I put BFG RTAs on mine 2 years ago. I remember my original UNIROYALS. I was doing 5400 rpm on the PA pike with 3.42 gears. Figure the mph! Locally I'd go around turns oil pressure would drop! On RT 30 from Ligonier on 2 lane concrete, 110-120 mph in the gradual turns, 5400 on the straights. NEVER even thought about tire speed ratings!! DUH! Now i think this can happen etc etc etc!

[mgarblik]

I thought I would update this thread since so many have been following along with me for so long. My report is a mixture of good and bad news, and as Joe Friday of Dragnet fame would say, "just the facts". Filled the car with fluids last week and tried to start it for the first time. Remember, this engine had been on the dyno about a year and a half ago and ran flawlessly. Engine started fairly quickly but it was immediately clear to me something was wrong. It was very hard to keep running and changing the ignition timing had little to no effect on it. It acted like it was running extremely rich. Made a few checks, pulled a couple spark plugs, soot black. OK something must have happened to the carburetor. Removed it and took it completely apart. Everything looked perfect inside. Reassembled it and reinstalled. Did another spark test. It looked OK but maybe a little weak.

Now, what could have possibly changed from the dyno to the engine bay? Well, allot of things as it turns out. New/different battery and complete wiring harness was different. Checked voltages at the coil in crank and run positions, testing resistance wire. Everything looked great. The dyno did not use the OE ignition coil. It uses a MSD Blaster 2 coil. So I removed the coil and replaced with another stock style Delco coil I had laying around. Started the engine back up and it ran a little better. It would idle now but still very rough and you could tell it was still not right. Still seemed very rich and not responsive to timing changes. Shut it down and began thinking again: What is different from the dyno to right now in the car? On the dyno the distributor is used just as a low voltage switch and the MSD box provides the secondary spark. The only thing left was the distributor, so I removed it for inspection. Replaced the condenser, inspected everything else and reinstalled. Engine started right up and immediately you could tell it was a completely different animal. Fast idled fine, wasn't nearly as rich, reacted to timing and seemed closer to normal.
Still wasn't running great, but much, much better. I ended up replacing the spark plugs, carbon fouled, the used coil I had laying around with a new one and the used condenser I had with a new one. In the thousands of engines I have worked on for over 50 years, I can count on one hand the number of oil filled coils and ignition condensers that were defective. But just my luck, both on my car!. With the new parts installed the engine ran even better, especially starting and idle, but still not perfect.

As many with these early 70's engines do, I had always planned to keep 100% stock look but eliminate the ridiculous TCS system. I removed the distributor once again and began testing the components. The largest offender was the vacuum advance unit. It was providing 24 degrees of vacuum advance !! That was never going to work with today's crap gasoline. I brazed a limiter in at 10-12 degrees maximum. The centrifugal curve looked OK with 20 degrees @ 3800 RPM's. Put it all back together and installed it. Now with 14-15 degrees initial, using ported vacuum for the advance, it runs near perfect.

So that's all the good news. Next post will be the bad news.